AWeber vs Mailchimp: no free plan against a real one

How are AWeber and Mailchimp really different?

What will AWeber or Mailchimp cost for your setup?

The cheapest plan that covers each setup, add-ons included. Prices exclude VAT.

AWeber vs Mailchimp side by side

I compare email/CRM platforms on: Real cost per list size, both billing bases; Free-tier contact ceiling before you must pay anything; Team seats included, and the seat price past that; List segmentation depth; Automation workflow depth and any step/action limits; Deliverability and sending limits (emails per month, per day, or per rolling window); CRM and ecommerce integration depth; What happens past your plan's contact ceiling (overage pricing vs a forced upgrade).

Who should pick AWeber, and who should pick Mailchimp?

AWeber

Desk research

• Best for solo marketers and small businesses
• Best for growing lists sending regularly
• Best for small teams sharing one account

AWeber's Lite plan starts at $15/month billed monthly at the smallest list size and includes 3 team seats. Plus starts at $30/month billed monthly and adds unlimited seats and automations. Both plans are priced by subscriber count, and AWeber publishes prices up to 150,000 subscribers. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial.

Best for: Small to mid-size creators and small business owners who need email automation and landing pages, want to monetize subscribers directly, and can handle the subscriber-tiered pricing structure.

Strengths

• Lite plan at $15/month billed monthly is a low entry point for creators building an email presence, with 3 team seats included.
• Plus has unlimited team seats and unlimited automations, where Lite is limited on automations.
• Low monetization fees: 0.6% on Plus, 1.0% on Lite, letting creators keep more of paid subscription revenue.

Limits

• No free plan; only a 14-day trial. You must commit to Lite ($15/month billed monthly) or Plus ($30/month billed monthly) to start.
• Lite is priced up to 150,000 subscribers, and the price rises with each subscriber band as your list grows.
• Pricing scales by subscriber count on both Lite and Plus; the entry prices are just the starting point. Subscriber-count tiered, with published prices on the vendor slider from 0-500 up to 100,001-150,000 subscribers on both monthly and annual billing. Above 150,000 no price is published.

Skip it if you need a free forever tier or flat-rate pricing. Also skip it if you want unlimited team seats and automations without paying more per subscriber band, since Plus costs more than Lite at every list size.

AWeber reviewAWeber pricingAWeber alternatives

Mailchimp

Hands-on

I used Mailchimp heavily during my agency years, across client accounts of very different sizes, and what wore me down was the pricing: you end up paying a premium for every part of it, including the simplest tasks. The free plan caps out fast at 250 contacts, and the paid tiers scale by contact count on top of the $13/month billed monthly entry rate. Generative AI features and full automation flows sit behind Standard, not Essentials. It is the category default people already know, not the best value in it: there are cheaper, more current alternatives worth checking first.

Best for: Someone who already knows Mailchimp from a past job and wants the familiar interface, or a small list under 250 contacts that fits the free plan.

Strengths

• A genuine free plan with no time limit, not just a trial, for lists under 250 contacts.
• 300+ integrations including WordPress and Zapier bundled into every paid tier.
• Generative AI features included at no extra cost once you reach Standard.

Limits

• Essentials includes no generative AI features and automation flows capped at 4 steps.
• Pricing scales with contact count on a 20-step slider, so the $13/month billed monthly entry rate only holds under 500 contacts.
• No published extra-seat price and no standard money-back guarantee window, refunds are discretionary.

Skip it if you want AI features or real automation on an entry-level paid plan, since Essentials locks both out and Standard starts at $20/month billed monthly.

Mailchimp reviewMailchimp pricingMailchimp alternatives

Neither AWeber nor Mailchimp? Try these

• 

  MailerLite

  From $10.80/mo billed annually

  Pick it if you want a lower-priced entry tier than either AWeber or Mailchimp, with automation and a landing page included on its own free plan.

  MailerLite reviewMailerLite alternatives

• 

  ActiveCampaign

  From $15/mo billed annually

  Pick it if you want deeper CRM-style contact scoring and multi-step automation than AWeber's Lite plan offers, and a higher starting price doesn't rule it out.

  ActiveCampaign reviewActiveCampaign alternatives

• 

  Brevo

  From $8.08/mo billed annually

  Pick it if you want SMS and transactional email bundled with marketing email under one account, rather than as a bolt-on.

  Brevo reviewBrevo alternatives

Buying guides that rank AWeber or Mailchimp

• Best Shopify Email Marketing Tools for Ecommerce

  Mailchimp is #4 of 7

• Best Email Marketing Software for Agencies

  Mailchimp is #4 of 6

• Best Email Marketing for Nonprofits

  Mailchimp is #5 of 8

AWeber vs Mailchimp: questions people ask

Is AWeber cheaper than Mailchimp?

Yes, on monthly billing. At 500 contacts AWeber's Lite is $15/month billed monthly and Mailchimp's Essentials is $13/month billed monthly. At 5,000 Lite is $60/month billed monthly and Essentials is $75/month billed monthly. Essentials has no annual rate to put next to AWeber's annual $12.50/month billed annually.

Does AWeber have a free plan?

No. AWeber offers a 14-day trial, not a free-forever plan. Mailchimp's free plan is genuinely free and stays free up to 250 contacts, though it doesn't include automation.

Which tool gives you more automation for the entry-tier price?

AWeber. Lite includes 3 separate automations for $15/month billed monthly. Mailchimp's Essentials, at $13/month billed monthly, caps automation at Up to 4 flow steps, effectively one welcome sequence rather than a real workflow builder.

Why is Mailchimp still so popular if it's not the better deal here?

Familiarity. It's the tool most people have already used at a previous job or seen recommended by default, which counts for something if your team already knows the interface. That recognition doesn't make it the cheaper option or the deeper automation builder, and on this pair it's neither.

Does either tool offer a real money-back guarantee?

Not confirmed for either. Mailchimp's own refund policy names no standard guarantee window at all and only grants refunds for a system malfunction or a wrongful termination on its side. AWeber's pricing page doesn't mention a refund policy either way; ask AWeber support directly if this matters to you.

How does pricing scale as my list grows?

Both vendors raise the price as your list grows rather than changing what a tier includes: AWeber scales by subscriber count from its 500-subscriber entry band, Mailchimp by contact count. The scenario costs above show the real monthly bill at 500, 1,000 and 5,000.

What will this cost me at 5,000 contacts, or for a 3-person team on a 1,000-contact list?

At 5,000 contacts AWeber's Lite is $60/month billed monthly and Mailchimp's Essentials is $75/month billed monthly. For a 3-person team on a 1,000-contact list AWeber's Lite is $25/month billed monthly and Mailchimp's Essentials is $26.50/month billed monthly.